New methods for quantifying the effects of catchment spatial patterns on aquatic responses

Weller, Donald E.; Baker, Matthew; King, Ryan S.

New methods for quantifying the effects of catchment spatial patterns on aquatic responses

dc.contributor.author	Weller, Donald E.
dc.contributor.author	Baker, Matthew
dc.contributor.author	King, Ryan S.
dc.date.accessioned	2023-08-08T22:48:32Z
dc.date.available	2023-08-08T22:48:32Z
dc.date.issued	2023-07-24
dc.description.abstract	Context Previous studies developed distance-weighted regression to describe how land use effects on aquatic systems attenuate with arrangement of source areas within catchments. Objectives We clarify and extend the conceptual foundations of this approach, enhance the spatial and statistical methods, and provide new tools to interpret the results. Methods We derive the framework from first principles to resolve conceptual issues with how weighting is applied to source area versus total area, and we formalize the requirements for an ideal weighting function. We quantify the spatial distributions of land areas in a way that integrates with model fitting. We adapt non-linear optimization to simultaneously fit regression and weighting parameters. We quantify the spatial distribution of source effects with arrangement and document how different weighting functions alter that distribution. Results To verify their utility, we applied these methods to a published analysis relating polychlorinated biphenyls in fish to developed land use in catchments. We identified a stronger distance-weighted model and more completely characterized the effects of weighting on where aquatic impacts originate. Conclusions Our methods enable more comprehensive analyses of the effects of spatial arrangement to better inform a wide range of scientific investigations and applications. Our methods can relate almost any spatially distributed source or driver to an integrated response at a point or along a boundary; and alternate hypotheses about the effects of pattern or proximity on processes can be tested with alternative weighting functions. New applications will generate additional weighting functions that enhance the general approach.	en_US
dc.description.sponsorship	The research was supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Estuarine and Great Lakes (EaGLes) program (USEPA Agreement #R-82868401) and by the Smithsonian Institution.	en_US
dc.description.uri	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-023-01706-x	en_US
dc.format.extent	17 pages	en_US
dc.genre	journal articles	en_US
dc.identifier	doi:10.13016/m2wefc-xa1m
dc.identifier.citation	Weller, D.E., Baker, M.E. & King, R.S. New methods for quantifying the effects of catchment spatial patterns on aquatic responses. Landsc Ecol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01706-x	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01706-x
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11603/29132
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher	Springer	en_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartof	UMBC Geography and Environmental Systems Department Collection
dc.relation.ispartof	UMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartof	UMBC College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Dean's Office
dc.rights	This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.	en_US
dc.rights	Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)	*
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.title	New methods for quantifying the effects of catchment spatial patterns on aquatic responses	en_US
dc.type	Text	en_US
dcterms.creator	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5069-0204	en_US